Salim Mehajer’s ‘put a bullet in her head’ threat against ex-partner

A former deputy mayor found guilty of brutally attacking his former partner threatened to “put a bullet” in her mother’s head.

A former deputy mayor who brutally pinned his ex-partner against a wall before threatening to “put a bullet” in her mother’s head will fight the claims in court after a jury found him guilty of domestic violence.

Salim Mehajer is facing sentencing at Sydney’s Downing Centre Court after he was found guilty earlier this month of six counts of domestic violence against his former partner following an explosive three-week trial.

The jury, which returned its verdict in less than a day, accepted the former Auburn deputy mayor had subjected his then girlfriend to four devastating assaults over two years while the pair were dating.

The 36-year-old told the NSW District Court earlier this month that he had already lodged a notice of intention to appeal the verdict but abandoned an application to be released on bail on Tuesday as he prepared to fight the charges.

Salim Mehajer was found guilty of domestic violence by a jury earlier this year. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Bianca De Marchi

The former politician told Judge James Bennett that he would instead be applying for bail in the state’s powerful Supreme Court and would be seeking legal representation for the first time so he could receive a medical report.

The court was told Mehajer was in the process of procuring a new psychological report from clinical psychologist Anthony Anderson, who required him to be legally represented, having received three prior reports in 2020 and 2022.

The move comes after the court was told Mehajer accused his girlfriend of calculating an attack on him and falsifying screenshots of text messages. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Mehajer repeatedly claimed in court that images tendered during the trial showing bruising and swelling he’d purportedly caused to the victim had been manipulated or tampered with.

Her previously served as high-profile deputy mayor at Auburn council in Sydney’s inner west. Picture: Instagram

The court was previously told that Mehajer had been “charming and nice” when the couple first met before their three-year relationship became marred by “episodes of anger”, with the former politician punching his partner 10 times in the head during a heated argument in his car.

During a separate argument about the woman’s ex-boyfriend, the jury was told Mehajer became enraged and dragged the victim through the house before pinning her against the wall of the laundry room and threatening to end her life and kill her mum by “putting a bullet in her head”.

“Listen here you little sl*t, if you ever go to the police, I’ll get you and I’ll get your mum,” the court heard he told her.

The former politician told the woman that she wouldn’t be safe if he went to jail because he would have someone else follow through on his threats.

The court was told the “most serious of the offences” happened when Mehajer suffocated his partner until she passed out in the bathroom.

He will remain behind bars on remand after abandoning a bid for bail. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

The jury was told that the victim woke up to find herself lying on the ground while Mehajer was banging his head on the toilet bowl.

“He put his hands over my mouth and nose and kept threatening to beat me to death and I couldn’t breathe,” she wrote in a text to a friend.

The former high-profile local councillor previously pleaded guilty to a supporting charge of contravening a prohibition in an apprehended violence order after he reached out to his former partner through his sister while in custody. His sister was not charged with any wrongdoing.

Mehajer will reappear before the Downing Centre Court on June 23 for a further sentence hearing.

He is also expected to appear before the same court on May 18 for an unrelated trial.

Originally published as Salim Mehajer’s ‘put a bullet in her head’ threat against ex-partner